Easton Doctor Will Lead State Society Surgeon First Ever From Hospital, First From Valley In 40 Years

January 04, 1995|by ANN WLAZELEK, The Morning Call

Dr. John Hobart impresses colleagues with his organizational skills --especially those who have seen his Easton Hospital office.

"I was unable to find a place to sit," said Dr. Eugene DiSalvo, a pediatrician and medical staff president who has known Hobart 30 years. "I think every piece of paper he had received as secretary of numerous organizations was stacked on his desk."

FOR THE RECORD - (Published Thursday, January 5, 1995) Dr. Eugene DiSalvo is an orthopedic surgeon. An article yesterday incorrectly identified him.

Hospital President Donna Mulholland called Hobart, the hospital's director of surgery, an outstanding human being, fair minded, dedicated and bright.

"But have you seen his office?" Mulholland asked in the next breath. She said she is amazed that Hobart can cut through stacks of clutter to find what he needs.

Perhaps, a year from now, Hobart's legacy to the Pennsylvania Medical Society will be finding order in the chaotic state of organized medicine.

In October, Hobart, 65, a urologist, became the state Medical Society's 145th president.

He is the first Easton Hospital physician elected to the job, the first from the Lehigh Valley in 40 years and only the second from Easton in the society's 146 years.

Dr. Traill Green of Easton was president in 1867, before Easton Hospital was built. Northampton County's last representative was Dr. Dudley P. Walker. Lehigh County provided two state presidents: Dr. William Hartzell in 1905 and Dr. Robert Schaeffer in 1955.

As president, Hobart said he wants to improve his profession and patient care by helping Pennsylvania's doctors better express and achieve desired reforms.

Doctors today face great challenges, threats and pressures, he said. Yet barely half, about 20,000, belong to the Medical Society, headquartered in Harrisburg.

"It is time for all of us to acknowledge our strengths as well as our weaknesses and present a unified front to help our patients," Hobart said in his inaugural address. "Someone has to be supportive of our patients and someone has to be supportive of our profession. If it's not us, who is it going to be?"

Many doctors agree with Hobart that reform must involve patients as well as physicians and insurers. Patients, he said, need access to physicians, reasonable insurance rates and some ability to retain health benefits when out of work.

Hobart said many friends have told him they are sympathetic to the health care problems of the poor and uninsured, yet are unwilling to give up benefits.

Physicians, he said, are becoming increasingly aware of the need to stick together in the face of insurers and managed care companies that want to tell them how to practice medicine and limit fees.

Hobart said he saw the trend in Lansdale, where some doctors launched a feasibility study for a statewide physician network. Hobart was interviewed by their consultant, who said the group needs $50 million to compete with U.S. Healthcare and other managed care plans.

"A few years ago, I would have been skeptical about doctors raising that kind of money," Hobart said. "Now, I think they might."

Insurers, he said, need fair business practices.

Hobart said one complaint of insurers concerns pre-existing conditions. Blue Cross and Blue Shield, as non-profit organizations, always took subscribers regardless of illnesses. But for-profit insurers don't want to lose money on a poor risk, he said.

"Call any HMO in the Valley and identify yourself as a self-employed single parent who wants a policy for you and your dependent child," Hobart said. "I doubt you'll find any."

All managed care has been market-driven and seems to have tremendously increased the tendency to skim and write lower risks, he said.

Still, Hobart emphasized, "Health care is more than buying an insurance policy to cover our ailments."

He said there are more basic questions for society in general -- such as when and how to ration care. He questioned cases such as a diabetic who weighs 300 pounds, a smoker with lung cancer or a patient with a head injury who didn't wear a helmet or safety belt.

"Is a drunkard entitled to a liver transplant?" he said. "I don't know."

Hobart said he hopes society can decide whom to treat when resources are limited, rather than putting doctors in the middle.

"The way we do it now, with Russian roulette, is the worst way in the world," he said. "Unless you are well-to-do or totally indigent, you may be caught very much in the squeeze."

Hobart said joining the state and national medical societies can help doctors achieve reforms.

He said the Pennsylvania Medical Society successfully sued the state government many times for failing to live up to promises in public health programs. In one case, Hobart said, the society forced the state medical licensing board to use increased fees for tighter control of physician practices, not for the state's general fund.